Volume 5, Number 4, June 2003 Science Department Adds said Headmaster Ellis Haguewood. Shaw is excited to be joining New Element to Leadership the MUS community and hopes to enrich the Science Depart- ment. “I want our curriculum and our classroom activities to A successful school is like a lab experiment. It is the result of reflect the excitement and challenge of science,” he said. a delicate mixture of just the right elements—a challenging Mr. Shaw adheres to one fundamental educational philoso- academic curriculum, extracurricular activities, and a dedicated phy. “Basically I believe that school should be challenging as group of talented instructors. Each addition to the mix must be well as stimulating,” he said. “The whole point of an education carefully measured to avoid an adverse reaction. This year, a is to develop oneself both mentally and emotionally. A good new “element” will be added to the MUS Science Department to school will find ways to bring out the best in each student while complete its composition. acknowledging the different strengths and interests that each Beginning in August, Mr. Albert L. Shaw will join the MUS student brings to the classroom. I am a fairly demanding faculty as the Ruth McCaughan teacher with, I believe, a big heart. Morrison Chair of Science and “Science courses offer unique head of the Science Department. opportunities to present the students Most recently, Mr. Shaw taught with situations, many of them AP Physics and AP Calculus at mathematical, which require them Chatham Hall in Virginia, to analyze and reason. Science is where his wife, Mrs. Marlene much more than a collection of Shaw, was the head of school. facts. It is a dynamic enterprise,” Mr. Mrs. Shaw will be taking over as Shaw said. head of St. Mary’s Episcopal A school full of boys can often School at the beginning of the be a big adjustment for a teacher. 2003-04 school year. However, Mr. Shaw has Mr. Shaw is well qualified to spent the last six years join the MUS faculty. He earned living on the campus of a B.A. from St. John’s University an all-girls school and in New York, an M.S. in natural says he is “totally com- science from the University of mitted to the idea of Wyoming, and an M.S. in single-sex schools.” science education from Long Al Shaw — As he prepares to Island University. He has also I want our curriculum and our classroom activities join the MUS faculty, Mr. earned a law degree from Saint to reflect the excitement and challenge of science. Shaw hopes to review John’s University and practiced the curriculum, enhance criminal and family law in a private legal practice. the laboratory and discovery side of the program, and generate Mr. Shaw’s wide range of experience and interests will be a even greater enthusiasm on the part of both the faculty and the valuable asset to MUS. He has served as an upper school princi- students for first-rate work in science. “The bottom line is that I pal, associate director of admissions, director of the summer am somewhat of a hard charger as a teacher. In the past, my session, and AP instructor at various schools during his career. students have generally responded well to the challenges that I “Mr. Shaw has had an extensive career in education over the have presented to them. As we all know, the more you ask of last 30 years and comes to MUS with a commitment to profes- kids, the more you get from them,” he said. sional development and a strong background in the sciences,” Opening Doors For Boys For Over 100 Years Inside MUS 1 StraightStraight FromFrom thethe HeadHead by Ellis Haguewood Pedagogue is a word that means teacher or educator, but those of us who teach rarely refer to ourselves as pedagogues. We avoid the term, because over the years the original meaning, “teacher or educator,” acquired an additional connotation, this one pejorative. Pedagogue also now can be used to refer to one who teaches in a pedantic or dogmatic or uninteresting manner, a teacher who pays too much attention to formal rules within his classroom. Once a word acquires an added pejorative definition, use of the word in its favorable meaning tends to die out. “Pedagogical methods,” a rather formal way of referring to teaching theory or the ways we teach, is still a popular phrase in educational circles, however. The origin of pedagogue is rather interesting. In ancient Greece, a personal slave-attendant accompanied a freeborn boy wherever he went. The “pedagogue” was usually an old and trusted slave of high character. He was in charge of the moral instruction of the child, and he was responsible for taking the boy safely to and from his tutor or teacher. The word, from Greek, literally means “one who leads a boy.” A question worth asking today is, “Who is leading your son to his teachers?” The best answer, of course, is that as his parents, you are. We cannot abdicate our roles as pedagogues to the music of our day or our media culture. The fortunate boy is the boy whose parents truly lead and guide, who set boundaries for him, who communicate the values of their family to him, who choose his teachers, who help him find the right kind of friends, who involve themselves in his life. At MUS, we believe, as you believe, that the primary responsibility for a boy’s moral instruction lies with his parents. The school can supplement, we can sharpen, we can aid in quickening his moral sensibility. And based on my observations over 34 years at Memphis University School, I believe that we do a good job of reinforcing the virtues that all of us esteem in men—honesty, responsibility, courage, perseverance, diligence, compassion. But what we do well we do well because the parents of MUS boys first have done their jobs well, and because they continue to do their jobs well. Our boys have learned those virtues at home, and they come to us well taught. Their parents, as caring and competent pedagogues, have led their boys to the teachers. A partnership between the school and parents, between pedagogues and teachers, provides the very best moral education a boy can have. At Memphis University School, we value the partnership we have with parents as we work together to produce strong moral character and the highest virtues possible in every boy. 2 Inside MUS Opening Doors For Boys For Over 100 Years Beg To Differ Blackett Receives Wins International National Achievement Recognition OOwlwl NNewsews Scholarship Beg To Differ, MUS’s renowned a cappella Senior Philip Blackett received an ensemble, was recently awarded a place on exceptional honor from the National Merit the Best of High School A Cappella (BOHSA) International Scholarship Corporation this year when he was presented with a Compilation CD. The BOHSA CD, produced annually by Varsity National Achievement Scholarship. The National Achievement Vocals, showcases some of the world’s best high school vocal Scholarship Program is a privately-financed academic competition groups as a means of encouraging students to dedicate them- established in 1964 to provide recognition for outstanding Black selves to the improvement of their art. The CD’s are sold to the American students. Blackett’s superior performance placed him among 4,500 other students to receive National Achievement Program recognition. Of the 110,000 students eligible, approxi- mately 775 scholarships are awarded each year. Leading Man Sophomore Eric Wilson has already built an impressive resume with his numerous supporting and leading roles in MUS Theater productions, as well as in other theatrical programs throughout the city. This year, he added a third-place award in the Memphis and Shelby County Shakespeare Monologue Competition. The competi- tion, held at the University of Memphis on February 24, allowed Wilson to practice his thespian skills as he recited a speech by Cardinal Wolsey from Henry VIII. The English Speaking Union of Beg To Differ on the road again the United States sponsors the competition annually to “help high school students develop their language skills and dramatic talents featured groups at cost and are then resold to help finance future through memorization of and interpretation of a monologue or endeavors. Beg To Differ will contribute their song, “You Can sonnet.” Call Me Al,” to the prestigious play list. This adds yet another award to the long list of Beg To Differ’s accolades. This year, members of Beg To Differ also brought Spring Award Winners home a gold award from the 2003 Atlanta Heritage Festival, a Sewanee Award for Excellence: Todd Jean-Pierre part of Heritage Festivals which operates more than 1,000 adjudi- Dartmouth Book Award: Brandon Arrindell cated music festivals a year in 25 cities, including international Jefferson Book Award: Edward Taylor locations. Yale Book Award: Adam Kaplan Since its founding in 1991 by music instructor John Randall Ash Perkins Scholarship Award: Brandon Arrindell Hiltonsmith, the ensemble has recorded two CD’s, received Daughters of the American Revolution Citizenship Award: recognition in vocal competitions across the country, and been Andrew Hanover named “Over-All Best Choir” at New Orleans’ 1997 Riverfest and Wellford Leadership Award: Andrew Hooser New York’s 2001 Heritage Festival. The group has traveled to France twice for performances and, in 2001, was recog- nized for its accomplishments by a proclamation from the Tennessee State Senate. The BOSHA International Compilation CD is available through Mr. Hiltonsmith at (901) 260-1382 or on line at www.a-cappella.com.